Isaac Watts: The Calvinist

As a biblically informed theologian and preacher, Isaac Watts found his mind and imagination drawn to meditation on the infinity of the God who, by His power and authority, laid out and sustained the heavens and the entire universe. Describing Watts’ fascination with the immensity of the sky and heavens, Manning wrote, “In Watts it leads straight to the Calvinist’s awareness of the sovereignty of God.” Watts winsomely wove this awareness of God’s sovereignty in all areas—including salvation—throughout his hymns, as summarized here in a quatrain:

The sovereign will of God alone
Creates us heirs of grace,
Born in the image of His Son,
A new, peculiar race   

Continue at Douglas Bond

The Weakness of the World’s Strongest Man

When the writer of Hebrews listed the Old Testament heroes of faith, he included Samson (Hebrews 11:32). Really? Samson’s story, recorded in Judges 13–16, reads like a narcissistic super hero’s whose Kryptonite weakness does him in in the end.

But God wanted Samson included in the list because there are crucial things about faith that God wants us to understand from him. To explore these, let’s imagine two of Samson’s brothers on their way to collect Samson’s body in Gaza (Judges 16:31) reflecting on all that went wrong (I’ve given them the fictitious names, Abijah and Nadir).

---

The two brothers said nothing for a long time after the ruins of Dagon’s temple came into view. It lay on the ground like a torn carcass. The living were crawling through the debris extracting the dead.  Continue at Jon Bloom

Counseled by the Puritans on Providence

Slowly working my way through A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life; I was recently blown away by the tenth chapter, which is entitled “The Puritans on Providence.” I was already tired enough to go to bed, when I decided to read another chapter in this massive volume, so I wondered if there was any practical wisdom in my decision to open any book. However; I found myself being renewed in strength after reading just a few pages, which propelled me to finish the chapter. It was exactly what I needed.

In today’s post, I will attempt to summarize 15 pages of theology into 1500 words.

Puritan Definitions and Teaching on Providence

Puritan Arthur Dent (1553-1607) wrote, ‘For every one of us, when we do confess God to be almighty, do acknowledge that he by his providence rules everything.’

The Heidelberg Catechism asks to what advantage it is to know that God rules and upholds all things and then answers this way: “That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.”

William Ames (1576-1633) deduced the following lessons from Romans 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”    Continue at Paul Tautges

Calvinistic Compatibilism: A Discussion of Divine Causation, Human Freedom and Moral Responsibility

Below is an excerpt addressing the subject of divine causation and compatibilism. This has been adapted from a series of responses I recently shared with some non-Calvinist Christians who have taken an incompatibilist position (i.e. their belief is that God's pre-determination of everything is incompatible with human freedom of choice and moral responsibility). I argue here for the opposite view, that God's sovereign pre-determination of everything is perfectly compatible with human freedom of choice and moral responsibility for our actions.

Dear Non-Calvinist friends:

You present an interesting argument. The main thrust seems to be that Reformed theology makes God the author of evil, and in so doing removes man's freedom and moral responsibility. This objection is not new; it has been a common challenge faced by Calvinistic thinkers for centuries. I believe the argument is flawed, and I will explain why in detail. First, here is a summary:

1. The argument fails to distinguish between hyper Calvinism and mainstream Calvinism
2. The argument is based on a faulty understanding of mainstream Calvinism, which affirms compatibilism rather than mere determinism.
3. The argument is based on a faulty understanding of compatibilism, which affirms human freedom and responsibility in addition to determinism.
4. The argument groundlessly assumes compatibilism is impossible and self-contradictory.
5. The argument is based rationalism rather than a sound, Biblical epistemology (theory of knowledge)
6. The argument gives undue credit to the human mind's ability to peer into the unrevealed. 
7. The Argument fails to present a Biblically and logically sound alternative to the Reformed approach, which it rejects based on multiple misunderstandings.

Historically, Calvinists have taken a variety of positions, from a VERY SOFT compatibilism to a VERY HARD determinism. You have quoted from several examples of this diversity. A.W. Pink (depending on the day of the week), Vincent Cheung and Gordon Clark are in the line of the more hyper brand of Calvinists, who are most likely to espouse the hardest form of determinism without apology. You extol this as being somehow more “consistent.” Others like Piper, Packer and Frame are more likely to express a compatibilism that affirms human freedom as a mystery within (and even upheld by) divine ordination. I have read Calvin’s discussion of free will in the Institutes; he is a textbook compatibilist, at least in that part of his writings.    Continue at Theoparadox

Will God Interfere With Our Free Will?

Some Christians see God as a kindly but passive observer of our choices. After all, God wouldn’t ever interfere with our free will, would He? Ask Jonah and a wry smile would come over his face.” This is how Colin Smith introduces a fictional anecdote from the life of the prophet Jonah:

Would God ever interfere with our free will?

Hmmm … let’s see.

I had made my choice. I suppressed my conscience, steeled my nerves and, by a free act of my own will, boarded the ship to Tarshish. But God would not let me go.

My will was taking me in the wrong direction. So God made an intervention, graciously messing with my rebellious heart to save me from a life wasted in disobedience.

God stepped into my life uninvited, through an unexpected storm, rolling dice, and pounding waves that pushed me down until, finally, I came to my senses and called on the Lord, only to find that He had already planned and provided for my salvation by sending a great fish.   Continue at Tim Challies

God is Sovereign While Man is Accountable.

This article is part of a series on the Love of God by D.A. Carson. He originally presented these papers in a lecture series at Dallas Theological Seminary. Part 1 can be found here, and part 2 can be found here.

I recently read an article by D. A. Carson titled “God's Love and God's Sovereignty.” I strongly commend the article to you, especially to those who overemphasize God's sovereignty or overemphasize man's responsibility. You can find Carson’s full article here (pdf). I’ve provided a summary below, followed by my response. You can also find Carson’s book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God here for free (pdf).  

Carson, D. A.  “God’s Love and God’s Sovereignty.”  Bibliotheca Sacra 156 (July-September 1999): 259-271.

Summary of Main Points

 

This third address in this series on God’s love will focus on God’s love for humans, but especially in relation to His own transcendence and sovereignty. Helpful to our study of God’s love is to note some specific texts where the vibrant, affective element in the love of God is almost overpowering. One of the most striking is Hosea 11. God revealed His love for Israel, His son, by calling them out of Egypt. Yet, Israel rebelled, often choosing idolatry instead of obedience.  God speaks of their impending judgment (Hosea 11:1-7), but then it seems that God cannot endure the thought (Hosea 11:8-11). God will judge Israel through exile, but He will also redeem them due to His own compassion.   Continue at Jared Moore

Life’s Interruptions are Divine Opportunities

I confess. I’m a control freak.

 

To give my attitude the best spin, I could say it’s because I’m “disciplined” and like to map out my time. But that’s not the reality. Truth is, I like to be in control because it makes me feel powerful and secure. The heart issue is that I’m looking for security in something other than God. So, it’s idolatry, not discipline.

If you like to be in control of your circumstances, then you know what interruptions are like. They’re frustrating. They get in the way of your plan. They need to be avoided or discarded or dealt with as soon as possible so you can get back to being in control, right?

Wrong.

Those of us who follow Jesus shouldn’t act this way when interrupted. We shouldn’t see interruptions as obstacles to our plan but opportunities to embrace God’s plan.

Jesus Interrupted

I can’t help but marvel at how Jesus handled interruptions. Take the story told in Matthew 14, when Jesus finds out about John the Baptist’s beheading. Jesus is saddened by the news. He wants to be alone. So what does He do? He gets in the boat and starts on a journey to get some solace and relief.

But Jesus’ solace is soon interrupted. A large crowd gets word of His plan, and the people make it to the other side in order to wait for Him.   Continue at Trevin wax

Every Moment in 2013 God Will Be Doing 10,000 Things in Your Life

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” That was one of our most widely spread tweets in 2012. So we want to say it again for 2013 and make this promise even more solid.

Not only may you see a tiny fraction of what God is doing in your life; the part you do see may make no sense to you.

• You may find yourself in prison, and God may be advancing the gospel among the guards, and making the free brothers bold. (Philippians 1:12–14)
• You may find yourself with a painful thorn, and God may be making the power of Christ more beautiful in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:8)
• You may find yourself with a dead brother that Jesus could have healed, and God may be preparing to show his glory. (John 11)
• You may find yourself sold into slavery, accused falsely of sexual abuse, and forgotten in a prison cell, and God may be preparing you to rule a nation. (Genesis 37-50)
• You may wonder why a loved one is left in unbelief so long, and find that God is preparing a picture of his patience and a powerful missionary. (Galatians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:12-16)
• You may live in all purity and humility and truth only to end rejected and killed, and God may be making a parable of his Son and an extension of his merciful sufferings in yours. (Isaiah 53:3; Mark 8:31; Colossians 1:24)
• You may walk through famine, be driven from your homeland, lose husband and sons, and be left desolate with one foreign daughter-in-law, and God may be making you an ancestor of a king. (Ruth 1–4)    Continue at John Piper

God Is the Lord of History

I never cease to be amazed at how many surprises remain in familiar passages of Scripture, if we stare long enough. I hope I have come to the point of entirely distrusting any presumption that I have exhausted any portion of God’s Word. This has particularly been the recurring lesson from the Gospel of Luke, as I have been teaching it to the college-group in our congregation. Though familiar territory, the announcements and births of both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus (Luke 1-2) are filled with many sanctifying surprises.

For example, when we reflect on Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:1-21, we garner much comfort in how God sovereignly rules over all human government to accomplish His purposes in Christ. Perhaps this a tad relevant to our present day?

Why Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?

Of course, Micah prophesied the birth of our Lord Jesus over 6 centuries before it was fulfilled (Micah 5:2). The Son of David, whose throne God would establish forever (2 Sam 7:13; cf. Luke 1:32-33), was to be born in David’s hometown (cf. 1 Sam 16:1-4). If He actually is the Messiah of David’s line, then Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem and fulfill God’s very old promises. But that’s not the only reason Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Continue at Steve Meister

Remember What’s Really Going On: Jesus Is Gathering His Sheep

I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16)

Jesus Christ is hard at work gathering the rest of his sheep that he “bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28) and that are “scattered abroad” (John 11:52). This is the main thing that is happening in the world. All the great geopolitical shifts in the world are connected to this mission. The world doesn’t know it. 

But the church on earth, the sheep that are in the fold already, must remember this. It’s what history is all about and it’s why they are still here. It’s why God installs and removes rulers. It’s why economies surge and crash. It’s why church planting and missionary doors open and close. It’s why gospel awakening breaks out in one place and persecution breaks out in another. 

We can be at peace despite major cultural shifts, political upheaval, war, natural disasters, disease, and persecutions (Romans 8:35) because we know that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). And we know that all these things “must take place” (Matthew 24:6) and that the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).   Continue at Jon Bloom

Did God Choose Barack Obama as President?

Habakkuk was confused, frustrated, and evidently just a little bit ticked at God.

“Oh, Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence” and you will not save?”  (Hab 1:2)

His concern was focused on the wickedness that was so prevalent among God’s people, in his nation.

“So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” (Hab 1:4)

Read between the lines. “Where are you, God? Why are you allowing this wickedness to prevail?”

Then, God answered Habakkuk, but it was not an answer that the prophet wanted to hear. He expected God to say, perhaps, that he was going to restore Judah’s fortunes with a sweeping revival and bring them back to obedience that the blessing that would accrue to the obedient nation.  That is not what God said. You can almost see Habakkuk’s jaw drop as God says to him,

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians), that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.” (Hab 1:6)

God goes on to describe the fierce and cruel Chaldeans, intimating that he would raise them up as a scourge to punish Judah’s wickedness. Habakkuk is nonplussed by this answer, asking God how he could possibly consider raising up an even more evil nation like the Babylonians to punish his own chosen people. He is irate now (it is fascinating how honest the prophets are when they are upset at what God is doing!). In Habakkuk 2:1, he issues an ultimatum to God to defend himself and his actions in punishing sinful Judah with uber-sinful Babylon.   Continue at Dave Miller

The Sovereignty of God: "My Counsel Shall Stand, and I Will Accomplish All My Purpose"

Isaiah 46:8–11,

Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

One of the most foundational of all the 30-year theological trademarks of Bethlehem is the priceless truth of the sovereignty of God. Let’s go right to our text lest even from the beginning we import something here that does not come from the word of God. This matter is far too serious, and touches on so many painful realities, that we dare not trust ourselves here to come up with truth without being told by God himself. 

In Isaiah 46:9 God says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” So the issue in this text is the uniqueness of God among all the beings of the universe. He is in a class by himself. No one is like him. The issue is what it means to be God. When something is happening, or something is being said or thought, and God responds, “I am God!” (which is what he does in verse 9), the point is: You’re acting like you don’t know what it means for me to be God.

What It Means to Be God

So he tells them what it means to be the one and only God. He tells them what’s at the heart of his God-ness. Verse 10: What it means for me to be God is that “I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.” Two statements: One, I declare how things turn out long before they ever happen. Second, I declare not just natural events but human events — doings, things that are not yet done. Verse 10: “I declare from ancient times things not yet done.” I know what these doings will be long before they are done.    Continue at John Piper

You Sold Me But God Sent Me

If you please, one more blog about Joseph and his bouts with adversity and eventual triumph. Surely, Joseph as an Old Testament type of Christ knew the feeling of a world against him. He knew what it was like to have nothing go his way. The more Joseph tried, circumstances worsened. The more someone liked him, the worse it became. Jacob, his father loved him more than any of his children, and so his brethren sold him into slavery. Potiphar took a liking to Joseph and so did Potiphar's wife, and he was thrust innocently into prison. And while in prison, the warden began to favor the young Hebrew slave; surely Joseph questioned within what tragedy was next. However, Joseph prevailed over his adversity, and in so doing he left us a principle on how to overcome adversity—the firm conviction that God sovereignly uses evil to work good.

Joseph’s life is the proverbial, “one step forward and two steps backward.” But through it all he maintained his faith in God. His synopsis of all that had happened to him is stated in Genesis 45:5, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” In short, Joseph said, “You sold me; God sent me.”

How does adversity work? How can it cripple your resolve? By making you feel this is more than you can bear. Almost every crisis has the delusion of being the worse problem ever confronted. Have you noticed when you undergo adversity that at the time it seems to be more than you can bear? Once the trial ends and you look back, you think it wasn't as bad as you once thought. But when adversity comes again it becomes the worst difficulty you ever experienced.  A little girl was struggling to uproot a large weed.  When she finally succeeded, her father patted her on the head and said, "My, that was hard, wasn't it?"  "Yes," she replied, "and the trouble was, the whole world was hanging onto the other end!"  Almost always the present problem feels like it’s you against the world. Present distress seems to be the worst pain possible. "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful" (Hebrews 12:11).   Continue at Michael Durham

For Those Perplexed by Sovereign Election

“You are perplexed by the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and election. I wonder that any man believing in a God should be perplexed by these. For if there be a God, a ‘King, eternal, immortal, and invisible,’ he cannot but be sovereign,—and he cannot but do according to his own will, and choose according to his own purpose. You may dislike these doctrines, but you can only get rid of them by denying altogether the existence of an infinitely wise, glorious, and powerful Being. God would not be God were he not thus absolutely sovereign in his present doings and his eternal prearrangements.

But how would it rid you of your perplexities to get quit of sovereignty and election? Suppose these were set aside, you still remain the same depraved and helpless being as before. The truth is, that the sinner’s real difficulty lies neither in sovereignty nor election, but in his own depravity. If the removal of these ‘hard doctrines’ (as some call them) would lessen his own sinfulness, or make him more able to believe and repent, the hardship would be at their door; but if not, then these doctrines are no hindrance at all. If it be God’s sovereignty that is keeping him from coming to Christ, the sinner has serious matter of complaint against the doctrine. But if it be his own depravity, is it not foolish to be objecting to a truth that has never thrown one single straw of a hindrance in the way of his return to God? Election has helped many a soul to heaven; but never yet hindered one. Depravity is the hindrance; election is God’s way of overcoming that hindrance. And if that hindrance is not overcome in all, but only in some, who shall find fault? Was God bound to overcome it in all? Was he bound to bring every man to Christ, and to pluck every brand from the burning? Do not blame God for that which belongs solely to yourself; nor be troubled about His sovereignty when the real cause of trouble is your own desperately wicked heart.”

- Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
taken from: God’s Way of Peace, 1878.

HT:  Eric T. Young

“Why Pray if God is Sovereign?”

Matthew chapter 6, the Lord Jesus Christ cautions His disciples against praying as the hypocrites (v.5) and the heathen (v.7).  He then prescribes a model prayer for His disciples’ use.  Prior to the model prayer (or, “Lord’s Prayer” as it is commonly called), Jesus makes this statement in v.8, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”  This statement is a corrective to the technique employed by the heathen:  use many words so that God (or the gods) will hear you and answer.  Jesus is saying that you cannot manipulate God or control God or exercise certain formulas in order to make God perform; rather, He knows what you need before you ask Him.  It is important to notice what Jesus does not say; He does not say, “Your Father knows the things you have need of so don’t bother asking Him.”  No, the Lord Jesus says “He knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” – the Lord assumes we will present our petitions before God.  This is consistent with the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 65:24, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”  God is a sovereign God and therefore knows the end from the beginning and has certainly decreed all things that come to pass.  If God were not sovereign; if God did not decree all things; if God did not possess absolute authority over all things, prayer would be useless.

In light of this biblical truth, people often ask, “Why pray if God is sovereign?”   The Scripture gives several reasons why believers ought to pray to a sovereign God.  Here are just a few of those reasons.  In the first place, prayer is a natural response from the born again child of God.  In the discussion concerning prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus does not command believers to pray, He assumes that they will pray.  When the Lord speaks to Ananias and tells him to make contact with the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, He describes Saul this way, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying” (Acts 9:11).   Continue at Jim Butler

The Old Testament Is a Story of Providence

 ”God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem” (Judges 9:23).
•    ”Now the Spirit of the Lord has departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Samuel 16:14).
•    ”I am the Lord and there is no other.  I form the light and create disaster; I bring prosperity and create disaster; I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7).
•    ”When disaster comes to a city has not the Lord caused it” (Amos 3:6).

Even death is in the Lord’s hands.

•    ”The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6).
•    ”There is no other god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life. I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand” (Deuteronomy 32:39).

From the big pictures to the tiniest details, the Old Testament teaches that God guides all our steps.

•    ”The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33).
•    ”A man’s steps are directed by the Lord.  How then can anyone understand his own way?” (Prov. 20:24).
•    ”I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his step” (Jeremiah 10:23).
•    ”All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).

Our God, Daniel says, “does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth” (Dan. 4:35). And in Isaiah the Lord declares: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God ant there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come.  I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isa. 46:9-10). God is God because he  has the power to do what he wants, the wisdom to carry it out, and the sovereign authority to immutably appoint whatsoever shall come to pass.     Continue at Kevin DeYoung
 

The Potter's Precedent

In Romans 9, in response to the most frequent objection to Calvinism, Paul provides an answer from a potter analogy:

Romans 9:19-23

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory ... .

This theme and argument were not original to the Epistle to the Romans, or even to Paul more generally. In fact, this theme is not merely a New Testament theme. It is firmly rooted in the Old Testament.

The outlines for the theme are found first in Job.

Job 4:17-19

Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

Here we see the basic point emphasized. Man is not in a position to judge his maker. It is not necessarily crystal clear that the "houses of clay" refers to the body as opposed to mud huts, but it becomes clear soon:

Job 10:9

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

The reference in Job harkens back to the Creation:

Genesis 2:7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Man is like pottery in this way - that God made us from the dust of the ground.

Against the backdrop of Job and Genesis (we know Genesis was written by Moses, but we don't know exactly when Job was written), Isaiah provides similar and further elaborated variations on the theme:

Isaiah 29:15-16

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Here the rebellion of the people against God is answered with the potter's clay analogy. They are just his clay - are they really going to deny his existence/power or his wisdom?   Continue at TurretinFan

An Objection to God’s Sovereignty that Proves It

In Romans 9, Paul discusses God’s absolute freedom in His saving purposes. He uses the illustration of the twins, Jacob and Esau, stating that God’s choice of Jacob over Esau had nothing to do with either of them. Rather, God chose “so that [His] purpose according to His choice would stand.” This choice was “not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Rom 9:11). He goes on to say that salvation “does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom 9:16), and then supports that claim by referring to God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart for the expressed purpose of demonstrating His power and proclaiming His name through the events that followed (Rom 9:17; cf. Exod 9:16). Paul then summarizes his point by declaring: “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Rom 9:18).

Then, Paul anticipates an objection: “You will say to me, then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’”

First, let us understand the objection itself. Paul’s imaginary (or perhaps not so imaginary) interlocutor has understood all that Paul has said about God up until this point.

• He understands that salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace, and owes to nothing in man.
• He also understands that it is God’s will, not man’s will, that is determinative and decisive in salvation (again, Rom 9:16; cf. John 1:13). He asks a rhetorical question to underscore this very point: “Who resists His will?” That is to say, “No one resists God’s will.” “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Ps 115:3). He accomplishes all His good pleasure (Isa 46:10), and no purpose of His can be thwarted (Job 42:2).
• The objector also understands that God still holds man accountable. “He still find[s] fault.”

So the question is, “Since no one can resist God’s will, how is it fair that He still finds fault?”   Continue at Mike Riccardi

What is the Basis for God’s Eternal Decree?

After what seems like an eternity, we are returning to a mini-series in our overall series on Reformed Theology on the topic of the eternal decree of God. In our last post on this subject, we answered the question “What is God’s eternal decree?” The eternal decree of God is that by which God ordained everything that comes to pass — all past, present and future events are all part of God’s eternal decree, and they are unchangeably so.

In this post, we will be concerned with the question: What is the basis for God’s eternal decree? In other words, what grounds the eternal decree of God? This is an important question because when we say that God’s eternal decree covers every event — past , present and future — people begin trotting out the “F” word (“Fatalism“). That’s why some in the history of Christian doctrine developed a foreknowledge view of God’s knowledge of future events. God knows future events because, in his foreknowledge, he peers down the halls of time and sees the future. This is very different than saying that God foreordains future events, and the difference leads to radically different applications in Christian life and practice.

Here are two major problems I see with the foreknowledge view of God’s knowledge of future events:

1. It renders God as a passive observer of future events rather than as the One who sovereignly ordains their coming to pass
2. It depicts God as taking in knowledge rather than already possessing an exhaustive and complete knowledge of all things - Continue at Carl Gobelman

Evangelism and the Extent of the Atonement

At the time in my spiritual life when I began to embrace the doctrines of grace, the one that was hardest to swallow was the L in our beloved TULIP acronym: limited atonement—or perhaps better stated (though ruining the acronym): particular redemption, or definite atonement. To make a long story short, I eventually came to see that the doctrine was biblical. Both the intent and extent of the atonement was divinely ordained to infallibly secure the salvation of all those whom the Father had chosen from before the foundation of the world (John 6:39; 10:11, 14–15; Ac 20:28; Eph 5:25). Jesus’ death didn’t simply make salvation possible, and then leave the appropriation of the cross’s benefits to the sovereign will of the sinner. No, it actually purchased the salvation of God’s elect (1Pet 2:24; Rev 5:9).

Interestingly, one of my chief objections to the doctrine wasn’t so much on textual or exegetical grounds. It was that it contradicted the way I had always heard the Gospel preached in evangelism. All around me, I heard the Gospel preached as if it was merely: “Jesus died for you, so you should believe in Him.” Evangelism boiled down to telling people that Jesus died specifically for them, and that, if He loved them so much that He would die for them, the least they could do was live for Him.  Continue at Mike Riccardi